Do you believe in Divine Retribution?

[WellThisWasUnexpexted]

I live in a small community so I can't discuss this in RL. I've also namechanged.

Something awful has happed to someone (let's call this person A).

A does not have a great local reputation. A uses underhand methods to get what A wants. A tramples over people.

But something terrible has happened which is shocking and quite Biblical in context. I'm not going to say what it is as it is potentially triggering, and we are also talking about real people here.

I was a wavering agnostic but now I'm so shocked I'm open to the suggestion of the hand of God.

If you are a non-believer, please don't come on to say it's a coincidence or I'm being trivial/insensitive/ bad taste. I would like a discussion with believers about the concept of Divine Retribution across all faiths.

Thank you.

Plus you're looking at it from a materialistic/human perspective. Comfortable life/country.

As are you!

A thought experiment. You're very old. Your children are in their 60's. They've had good lives, good health, no major calamities, would you feel grateful or disappointed?

extol the virtues of suffering

I can see how you'd read it that way but that's really not what I meant. Bit of a stretch 😂

I was extolling the ability of humans to create positives out of negatives, not the virtues out of suffering.

For instance, I was assaulted. It was not my fault. It was not karma. It was just a horrible man doing something to me that was awful. Out of that though I have helped direct others who have found themselves in a similar position. I empathised wholeheartedly (empathy being very different from sympathy - sympathy is what you feel for someone when you haven't been through a similar experience, empathy is when you have). I understood that they just needed someone to listen. I understood better than those who had not been through it. But I considered it a huge positive - being able to help people, doing something positive with my negative experience.

And actively seeking out negative experiences or being negligent is a rather silly approach. No one should ever do that in the name of finding good karma. No-one should ever be encouraged to do so. It doesn't work that way anyway. Situations that have been manufactured to make someone look good are purely for pride purposes. Karma does not apply there.

Not having a profound appreciation doesn't prevent someone from caring for them. I agree but a profound appreciation changes a person, it develops into having a deeper understanding, it's different.

As are you! I thought I was also looking at it from a souls point of view.

A thought experiment. You're very old. Your children are in their 60's. They've had good lives, good health, no major calamities, would you feel grateful or disappointed? Again, from a human perspective grateful. Would there have been many opportunities for soul development though. Maybe that life was to just to perceive. We're talking an infinite number of lives here

I don't remember the part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Grampa Joe brought catastrophe upon Charlie.

I don't remember the part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Grampa Joe brought catastrophe upon Charlie

Didn't they nearly get chopped up by the fan after drinking the lemonade at the old man's insistence? 

Empathy does not require one to have had the exact same experience. It's the ability to imagine.

Only in the film. Roald Dahl did not write that scene. But he did write some corkers and was King of the ComeUppance.

By catastrophe I mean horrific punishment. A pp basically said if we don't punish our kids like God apparently punishes us they would turn into Augustus Gloops and not Charlie Buckets.

I stand corrected. Yes... sympathy is feeling compassionate and sorrowful over someone else's hardships. Empathy jlis the ability to put yourself in someone's shoes or imagine how you would feel if in a similar situation.

Apologies 😂

Apologies 😂

No worries. I've used my imagination to imagine what it feels like to ever be wrong about something, it's horrid! 😂😂😂